Hello Sheffield

Playing in the park with Mia wasn't as tedious as I expected.

I figured since she was a quiet kid that she would cling to me but apparently that was not the case. She made friends quickly and easily, leaving me holding her water bottle on the bench. I kept a close eye on her while I browsed through text messages and tweets on my phone. Instead of being tedious, it was mind numbingly boring.

"Careful Mia," I warned, as she got daring with the monkey bars. She glanced at me and smiled sheepishly. I looked back down at my phone, texting Becca with sleepover plans.
We were planning it for the next night, Saturday. She suggested dinner and some light shopping and I had no problem with it.

It was warm outside, being early summer in England. I'd never been around for summer here before and it was kind of exciting to realize how long I'd really been here. When I met Oli there was snow on the ground. Now I could see grass and leaves budding on trees. It was all so surreal. My job already started and was actually nearly finished. Only a few more weeks and I would be getting paid by Christie and Josh to be held as their nanny until October, when they needed me again.

"Textin' on the job? I should report yeh," a voice said. My head snapped up and Oliver Sykes stood in front of me. I grinned and rolled my eyes, shutting my phone and standing up to hug
him. I was pleasantly surprised to see him but a voice in the back of my head told me Becca had something to do with it.

She was the only one who knew I was at the park after all.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, cocking my head. He was wearing a loose t-shirt and tight skinny jeans. As usual his jeans rivaled mine in exactly how small they were. Sometimes I was astounded by the fact that he actually fit in them. Also as per usual, he looked great without even trying, his hair was perfect and he was wearing the perfect amount of cologne. He shrugged.

"A little birdy told me yeh were goin' into a coma at the park."

"Is that little birdy named Becca?"

"I'm not at liberty to disclose that information."

We stared at each other soberly before breaking into smiles. He chuckled and then rubbed the back of his neck, seemingly awkward. Admittedly, the silence now was a bit awkward because I didn't really know why he was here or exactly what he wanted. I mean, I was glad to see him and all but he could have called. I glanced over at Mia, who was climbing around with another little girl on the jungle gym.

"Well, I wanted to ask yeh somethin' actually," he said suddenly. He looked up at the sky and squinted at the weak sun. His hands were shoved in his front pocket and I automatically read nervousness on his features. To me, he was easy to read.

"What's up?" I asked, giving him my full attention now. He was being weird.

"Well, um, I wanted to see if yeh would like to go out with me tomorrow, like as a date though," he stumbled. I smiled at his cuteness though on the inside I had broken out dancing and butterflies had been let loose in my body. I could barely even contain the ear-to-ear grin that was threatening to spread on my face. He looked so sheepish and adorable.

"Uh, yeah, I would love that actually."

The smile that lit up his face was definitely mirrored my own smile. This was the moment I'd been waiting for for quite a long time. Oli was finally asking me out on a date. The giddy excitement I felt was probably enough to send me rocketing off to space. I thought about Mia but couldn't pull my eyes from Oli's face.

"Good, well I'm pickin' yeh up at 9:30 because it's more of a small day trip," he was radiating confidence now, "I think yeh'll like it a lot."

"Yeah, I'm sure I will," I said genuinely, smiling in a less creepy manner. I was nearly breathless.

"Alright well I guess I'll leave yeh to your work then, she seems a bit preoccupied," Oli said, gesturing to Mia, who was dangling from the monkey bars.

"Mia!" I barked, giving her a warning look. She got down and smiled sheepishly before running away toward a small sandbox. I turned back to Oli, who was smirking down at me. I blushed slightly in embarrassment. I was supposed to be watching her but I'd completely forgotten.

"I'll see yeh tomorrow," he said, pulling me into a tight hug. My heart practically beat itself out of my chest. Technically, things were getting official now. We pulled apart and I smiled up at him. He started to walk away and I said my goodbye, waving when he turned around. I watched as he got to his car and sped out of the parking lot. I sat in a huff, as if I'd been running.

Oliver Sykes had just asked me on a date.

The world was spinning and I didn't really know what to do first. Mia was running and squealing with the girlfriend she'd made and I was sitting, dumbfounded. A whole day with Oli as a date, which was obviously going to be loads different than just hanging around at home with him or around our friends. I wasn't sure how to act or worse, what to wear. I picked up my phone again, this time dialing Becca's number.

"We have to have the sleepover tonight, Oli just asked me out."

*

"I mean, technically, Oli probably wouldn't have asked you out if I didn't tell him where you were."

"He could have waited until I got home from work."

"That's beside the point."

Arguing with Becca was funny. Of course, it wasn't a real argument. She flashed me a mischievous grin as she turned back to the rack of clothes she'd been looking through. We were in a department store, searching for an outfit I could wear tomorrow.

I was easy-going and only really wanted to find a new top and maybe some jewelry to match it, Really, I just needed to keep my mind off of the fact that tomorrow was my first date with Oli. It might not seem like much of a difference from normally hanging out with him, but to me it was much different. It was official.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in."

The vicious tone to the voice and the fact that I didn't have many enemies in England clued me in to who it was before I even looked. When I did look I was unpleasantly surprised to find Kate with a nasty scowl on her pretty face and a hand on her hip.

"You shouldn't talk about yourself so rudely. Someone might think you have low self-esteem issues," Becca shot quickly. Her eyes were narrowed at Kate and though she'd never met her, I was sure she knew who she was.

The girl that was with Kate looked, if I was being brutally honest, like a walked sexually transmitted disease. We were in England after the winter, it was obvious that her orange skin was fake, or at least, more obvious than before.

Her hair was a dark brown, long and shiny. It might have been the only pretty thing about her. She wore far too much makeup and too little clothing. It was obvious though, by the rude smirk on her overly glossed lips, that she was used to bitchy deeds such as this.

"Looks like someone downgraded on the friend scale," Kate snapped, running a hand through her wavy blonde hair. Hatred surged in my body and I was sure that had we been in the parking lot and not the store, I would have her pretty hair in my hands as I smashed her face into the pavement.

"I could say the same but then again you always were a worthless whore even if you didn't look the part."

It was an unfair dig at the girl because I really didn't know her. In any case, it seemed to piss both of them off. I didn't really care how rude and judgemental being at the moment. Kate was a bitch and she obviously knew it.

"Yeh think yeh're so clever then. Yeh're goin' on a date with Oli? How sweet. I bet yeh'll last a week before he realizes that he's better then an ugly skank like you."

"Who the fuck are you again? Last time I checked, Liv was ten times classier than you and your nasty friend are and honestly, if you would pull your unsophisticated head out of your ass, you would see that. Attacking people in a store? How old are we, fourteen? Why don't you just grow up and get away from us?"

Shock was obvious on Kate's face. She wasn't expecting Becca to lash out like that and frankly, neither did I. I didn't think Becca would ever really yell like that. She was standing up for me and that was something I was endlessly grateful for.

"Why are you still standing here?"

"Whatever. I don't need to be lectured by two dumb cunts. Yeh'll get what's comin' to yeh soon enough Olivia. I'll be seein' yeh around."

With that, she was gone. I sighed and rolled my eyes, aggravated that she always showed up to ruin my day. Maybe I was just aggravated that I always let her ruin my day. We made our purchases quickly and relatively quietly. In the car, Becca unleashed.

"I'm assuming that was Kate the bitch."

I nodded, a weird feeling settling over my stomach. Her threats always got to me. Whatever she was planning wouldn't be the least bit merciful and I had no doubts that she would be ruthless. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd made the wrong enemies.

We decided to get a light dinner at a bar down the street from the store we'd been shopping in. It was still somewhat early but the place was loud and packed, which suited me just fine. I felt better now that we were surrounded by other people.

"She's been a real pain in the ass," I admitted eventually, after Becca's questioning got to me. It could've been the two beers I'd knocked back throughout dinner too, whichever.

"She's probably harmless, I wouldn't worry about it. Girls like her live for drama so if you don't give it to her, she'll give up," Becca advised. I wished I could take her advice and feel at ease but I wasn't too sure about Kate giving up. She wasn't like that.

I was happy when we decided to go back to my house. We were planning a movie and alcohol sleepover extraordinaire. That would get my mind off of things. While Becca changed into her pajamas, I pulled a few of my personal favorite movies down from the shelf.

She came trampling down the stairs much like Matty had all those months ago. I smiled at the memory. She came into the living room wearing a t-shirt and baggy pants, mirroring my own choice of bed clothing. She was holding a few Four Lokos.

"One each and we'll share the third," she said, placing them on the table. I ran to grab the Oreos from the kitchen, since I loved them. She had already put a movie in by the time I got back and we both plopped on the couch and snapped open our Lokos.

I was happy to see that she picked Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, which was a really good movie. We looked at each other, raised our cans, and drank. We had wanted a mellow night at home; two friends watching TV and drinking casually.

It was clear that one-third of the way through the movie that this wasn't what we were having.

We were loud and obnoxious, screaming at the TV during fight sequences. In fact, we were so tipsy that the movie was over before we'd felt like we'd even seen it. We put in another movie, but I wasn't even sure what it was, we were laughing too much.

Suddenly however, we sobered up. There was a small light flashing around the room from the window. We ducked down behind the couch and peeked around it stealthily. Panic flooded my veins though my head was still cloudy.

I was scared.

"What do we do?" Becca whispered. I didn't even know. As the flashlight scanned the room, I realized that I didn't know where my cellphone was nor did I know where my home phone was. We were fucked.

A million escape plans flooded through my head as Becca and I grasped at each other, tears threatening. I bit my lip and then opened my mouth to whisper back with her when the flashlight disappeared. We both sighed.

Then came the knock.

I was terrified and we both stared at each other with wide eyes. I figured that if we had any shot it was to get upstairs and lock ourselves in my room. If one of our phone's wasn't in there we could yell for help from my window.

"Let's go up to my room," I said, crawling in front of her. I got up hesitantly, crouching before reaching my hand out. We clung to each other, walking out of the living room slowly, shaking. We were by the door and the knocking persisted, though it was scarcely as loud as my heartbeat.

Suddenly a flashlight fell directly on us and when I turned, I saw a man standing in my kitchen. Becca and I screamed. She fell on the floor as I raced toward the stairs, still screaming bloody murder.

When I was halfway up, I looked back down and saw Matt Nicholls being beaten up by his girlfriend. Literally, getting his ass kicked. I bit my lip and started to cry in silent relief. Tom walked in the backdoor, holding a flashlight and grinning.

Like I had with the other Sykes brother in the previous 'intruder' case, I rushed into his arms to cry it out. I was such a baby.

He held me tightly, but in a brotherly way, comforting me and chuckling to himself. Eventually I let him lead me to the couch and i rested my head on his shoulder, calming myself down. After all, someone coming to kill me was one of my worst nightmares. Becca was still screaming at Matty.

"I swear to god you are the biggest fuckwit I've ever met! You nearly killed me you dumb motherfucker. Don't you ever do that again or I'll never look at you. Ever. I mean it."

"I'm sorry alright? Jesus, yeh're down my throat."

"Too right I am. You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack."

"Yeh're cute when your mad," Matty said, grinning at her. That softened her and she pulled him into a hug. Tom shook his head and muttered to himself. I ached to have Oli here. Oli. That made me think of our date tomorrow.

Sometimes, dates led to people being official. Boyfriend. Girlfriend.

"Sorry about this," Tom said when we were all seated in the living room, "Matty and I were bored out of the arse and we wanted to pick on Liv for finally gettin' a date."

"Oh the joy," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"How'd he ask? Did he pull roses out of his arse and have a violinist come?" Matty teased. I crossed my arms and refused to answer any of their teasing.

Truth was, I was too nervous to be light-hearted and laugh along with them. Their teasing merely reminded me that in less than 10 hours, I'd be on a date with Oliver Sykes.